This invention relates to tracheostomy tube assemblies of the kind including an outer, tubular shaft having a bore extending along it for passage of gas and an introducer inserted within the shaft, the assembly having a passage extending along its length for receiving an elongate guide member.
Tracheostomy tubes have a curved or bent shaft shaped to extend through a surgically-made opening through the neck of a patient into the trachea. An introducer within the tube is used during insertion through the neck tissue to provide a tapered tip to the assembly. One end of the tube extends externally and usually has a flange used to secure the tube with the patient's neck. The other end of the tube locates within the trachea and is directed caudally. The tube often has a cuff adjacent the patient end, which can be inflated to seal with the trachea so that flow of gas is confined along the tube. It can be difficult to insert a conventional, curved tracheostomy tube in morbidly obese patients because they may have increased neck mass such that the distance between the skin surface and the trachea is significantly greater than in average patients. One way of alleviating this problem is to use a tube with an adjustable flange, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,064, U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,616, U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,229, U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,569 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,352. These arrangements enable the position of the flange along the machine end of the tube to be adjusted to take into account variations in thickness of neck tissue so that the flange can abut the surface of the skin around the tracheostomy.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative tracheostomy tube assembly.